Maidstone, Kent (a very safe Tory seat ) but only been here for about a year. Roots are South London, born in Bermondsey (where my grandfather was a docker and union pioneer) largely brought up in SW London.

Have lived in a variety of places,NE Scotland,Malaya,Cyprus (dad was in RAF).Actually born in the South,but count myself as "Northern",now live in a village a few miles South of Chesterfield,and have done so for twenty years.

It is.Beautiful.The source of the Dordogne is only a few kilometres away,and runs through the town in icy beauty.So clean,full of fish,it sparkles.The town is immaculate,no litter,graffiti or vandalism.An old fashioned carousel sits in front of the church from February to the end of August,can you imagine in the Uk?It would be wrecked in weeks.The air is so clean there is a sanatorium for children with asthma about a kilometre up the mountain.Municipal flowerbeds are a charming combination of fruit ,flowers and vegetables.When it snows the little ones all walk to the park with their teachers for snowshoe lessons.Even the teenagers are polite,if you bump into them in the park after dark they say bonsoir madame.Of course,my daughter hated it so we will never go back.Dogs are allowed in non food shops,even the pharmacy.In fact ,the pharmacist came out to me one day as I was tying Charlie up and said to bring him in.sad that I left.

Last edited by Rebecca on Thu 13 Nov, 2014 10:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Born in The Rossall Nursing Home, Island Bank Road, Inverness (Danny, bloody, Alexander) in a room on the first floor which was later occupied by my Grannie (Elizabeth McNeil from Bara) when she decided she didn't want to be a burden to my Dad and his three Sisters, and to their combined horror gave up the third floor 2-roomed tenement flat in Hamilton Street, now the Marks & Spencer store, which they had secured after Grandad came back from the trenches.

My Dad, "Sonny" (James Richard after my Grandad) - even to the children in the family - because he was the youngest and only boy, slept on a campbed behind a curtain in the "lounge" whilst Daisy (Margaret), Betty (Elizabeth) and Molly (Mary-Helen) slept in the "other room" with Grannie and Grandad!

I loved 10 Hamilton Street with it's coal fire, kettle and pans steaming over it, and am taken back there whenever I catch the aroma of potatoes boiling and scotch broth on the go. Cosy, loving, comfortable, homely and safe.

What I didn't like was the darkness of the stairway and the frightening man on the second floor who always poked his head out through the door when I shouted up to my Dad from the ground floor lavatory (the only lavatory), "I'm done Daddy"! He had to come downstairs to get me!

Now I'm having a daily argument with myself. Do I up sticks and move to southern Spain or do I stay in Peterborough with friends? Next May could provide some pros and cons!

Dad in Royal Air Force for over 30 years so have lived in many places UK and overseas - the best being Singapore which I had good fortune to re-visit after 53 years just last June with over 70 other Forces Brats.

Dad bought first house in Peterborough when posted to Borneo unaccompanied so Peterborough, love it or hate it, is a "home" to me now as I've always returned to it from wherever I lived temporarily. I can "call it" and often do, but absolutely defend it from other people's attacks! Stewart Jackson is my MP so I expect sympathy!

_________________Happy to be called a Labour Party Tribalist as I don't consider it as an insult in the grand scheme of things!

Giselle, you do indeed have my sympathy. I look back on my years in Peterborough with very little affection; it is an odd place, the city itself isn't bad (I loved the cathedral & museum, and Flag Fen is a gem) and there are some lovely places nearby ...... but, oh, some of the people. It is no surprise that somebody like Jackson could get elected (after all they put up with Mawhinney for years) and also no surprise that UKIP have found a home there.

So you're an RAF Brat? That was largely the reason I ended up there, my (now ex-)wife was also a Brat, her father's final posting was Wittering and they settled in Peterborough.

And ohsocynical. I doubt at the moment I will be posting much. My views are much like what Aneurin Bevan said in 1948 -

"That is why no amount of cajolery, and no attempts at ethical or social seduction, can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party that inflicted those bitter experiences on me. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin. They condemned millions of first-class people to semi-starvation. Now the Tories are pouring out money in propaganda of all sorts and are hoping by this organised sustained mass suggestion to eradicate from our minds all memory of what we went through. But, I warn you young men and women, do not listen to what they are saying now. Do not listen to the seductions of Lord Woolton. He is a very good salesman. If you are selling shoddy stuff you have to be a good salesman. But I warn you they have not changed, or if they have they are slightly worse than they were. "

Although I'm sure everyone knows by now from my posts, I live just north of Bury, Lancashire, having been brought up in the Northwich area of Cheshire (chemicals/salt/steel town then, believe it or not...). After getting hitched to MsRemarx, we set up home in Rusholme and then Longsight (both Manchester, obvs), before finally moving here in 2000. If you ever plan a visit to Bury, PM me and I'll be happy to show you the sights...

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